Land grabbing and global capitalist accumulation: Key features in Latin America

We introduce this special issue by explaining seven characteristics of land grabbing in Latin America. These features are not unique to the region. By highlighting them - arguing, for instance, that a key aspect in Latin America is intra-regional land grabbing driven by (trans)Latina companies - we hope to inspire new cross-regional comparisons to understand the dynamics of "global" land grabbing. Our focus on Latin America challenges some problematic generalisations in the literature, for instance, that land grabs occur mainly in fragile states. We interrogate the relationship between land grabbing and the "foreignisation" narrative, and the need to revisit the broader question of land concentration. Thus we build upon the literature locating land grabs and the land question within the political economy of global capitalism.

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